


Storytime

by Eternal Scribe (Shadowcat)



Category: Tomorrow When the War Began (2010)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-17
Updated: 2013-12-17
Packaged: 2018-01-04 23:25:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1086920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowcat/pseuds/Eternal%20Scribe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chris finds a way to make his friends relax a bit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Storytime

“I always thought an invasion would be a lot cooler than this.”

Everyone who was sitting at the river turned to look at Chris. Corrie was plaiting Ellie’s hair, so there was a chance that she could prevent Ellie from reacting if Chris said anything thoughtless.

“Yeah?” Kevin spoke up from where he was sitting away from the core group. Corrie was still mad at him and that meant that Homer was also annoyed with him. So much for the idea that guys always stuck together. “What’s so cool about a war?”

“How would you have made the invasion a cooler event, Chris?” That was Ellie’s tired voice and it surprised everyone that she had spoken up to engage Chris in conversation. She had been rather quiet and a little withdrawn since they had returned to Hell after her flip out on Chris back at his house. However, instead of being harsh, Ellie sounded younger than her friends had heard her sound in a long while.

“Yeah, Chris,” Corrie said, grabbing onto Ellie’s idea as she continued to play with her best friend’s hair. “Tell us a story.”

Lee gave them all an incredulous look, but Fi chimed in. “A story sounds really good right about now. Besides, there’s not much that we can do right now when we’re stuffed like this.”

Kevin looked disgusted at how the girls had suddenly reverted to children, and Homer just leaned on his stick, his attention apparently focused on Chris.

Chris shifted in his seat, trying to gauge whether the group was serious. When he decided that they apparently were, he grinned and lit a cigarette – at least it _looked_ like a cigarette. It could have been weed for all that they knew or cared right now.

“Pour you all some grog and sit back while Chris wows you with his storytelling genius.” 

He took it as victory when even Ellie smiled at him and accepted a cup of the grog he was passing out to them. The biggest surprise was that Robyn accepted a cup, but maybe that was telling. The last day or two had been hard on his friends and he couldn’t imagine even Robyn needed something to steady her nerves.

“Ok, see, I always imagined that anyone that invaded us would be from a different planet,” he started out his story, using his hands to illustrate the images he was trying to share from his mind. “Like, there’d be robots and androids and aliens. Not those creepy fucks from _War of the Worlds_ but things that were more our size.”

“Why our size?” Homer asked.

“What would they look like?” Robyn added, focusing on Chris.

“Well, they’d have to be our size because they’d need to be sneaky until they got an idea on how to use everything they would need to keep this planet alive,” he said, getting into his story. “Because they wouldn’t want to wipe all of the resources too quickly. They can only learn so much by observing us from afar. They’d have to take at least some time to integrate among us. From there, they could decide who would be the most valuable to them and then get rid of any of the other people that they deemed too much trouble or who didn’t know enough to make them useful.”

“So, they’d round up Corrie, Ellie and Homer and the rest of us would be disposable,” Robyn said with calm practicality. “They’re the ones who know all about the bush and how to deal with livestock and the farms.”

“I would not be disposable,” Kevin snapped at her.

“Yeah?” Corrie demanded, leaping to Robyn’s defense. “What would you teach the aliens – how to run off on your mates when they’re in trouble? I’m sure they would be real impressed by your sudden speed and stamina.”

Eager to avoid a fight, Fi jumped in with a question to Chris. “What would the ones look like that came to separate the people after all of that was decided?”

Chris took a drag off of his smoke and then another one. “Well, I’ve always imagined them as looking like that alien android dude from _Scooby Doo_. You know the one, all blue like he was in a uniform but his eyes were perfectly round and lit up. Maybe they’d even make that wee-oooh wee-oooh noise that he would make when he was chasing Scooby and Shaggy.” He got to his feet and did the stiff-legged walk of the robot from the kids’ show. “Wee-oooh! Wee-oooh! Wee-oooh!”

At that imitation and Chris doing the voice with a completely straight face, the four girls busted out into giggles and even Lee and Homer laughed.

They all relaxed a little bit, which had been Chris’ intention in the first place.


End file.
